Door latch



J. B. FLYNN noon LATCH May '10, 1932.

\ Filed May 5, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVEN OR ATTOR'N EY Patented May10, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JOHN B. FLYNN, OF DETROIT,MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO TERNSTEDT MANUFACTURING C(IMPANY, OF DETROIT,MICHIGAN, A. CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN DOOR LATCH Application filed May 5,

This invention relates to adoor latch and more particularly to a latchfor an automotive vehicle door.

In the present commonly used automotive vehicle door latch the springprojected bolt carries a rollback abutment which abuts against therollback when the bolt is fully projected to hold the outside doorhandle in a predetermined position that is usually horizontal. This typeof construction has proved defective in that the latch bolt often is'not fully projected owing to irregularities in the vehicle body whichmay be present initially or result from use. This incomplete projectionof the bolt permits the door handle to sag from its predeterminedposition because in such case the rollback is not held tightly againstthelock frame flange by the rollback abutment.

It is the object of this invention to obviate the sagging of the outsidedoor handle and to maintain it in a predetermined position at all timeswhether or not the bolt is fully projected. r

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the latch showing the bolt fullyprojected.

Fig. 2 is a section along the line 23-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the latch shown in Fig. 1.

Figs. 4 and 5 are a front elevation and a plan view respectively of thelatch showing the bolt partially projected.

Fig. 6 is a front elevation of the latch showin g the position of thevarious elements when the outside door handle is actuated to retract thebolt.

Figs. 7 and 8 are details of the latch bolt guide construction.

Figs 9 and 10 show a modification of the latch wherein the spring ismounted on the end of the lever. U

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the latch consists of thelatch frame 1 with the selvage plate 2. The latch frame has-the struckout guide lugs 3 and the selvage plate has the opening 4 whichcooperates with the guide clip 32 to guide the latch bolt 5. The latchbolt 5 carries the rollback abut- 1930. Serial No. 449,857.

ment 6. The latch frame 1 has rotatably mounted thereupon the rollback 7which has fixed therein the shank 8. The shank in turn carries theoutside door handle 9. The latch bolt 5 has mounted thereon the boltspring 10 as at 11. The latchframe '1 has pivotally mounted thereupon asat 12 the lever 13. The lever 13 pivots on the latch frame between theframe and the bolt spring and rollback abutment. The lever has theoutwardly turned flange 14 which engages the rollback 7. The other endof the lever 13 is outwardly turned as at 15. The outwardly turnedportion 15 of the lever 13 serves as a seat for the free end 16 of thebolt spring 10.

The striker plate which is carried by the vehicle body pillar may bereferenced 17.

The operation of the latch is as follows:

In Figs. 1, 2, and 3 the latch bolt is fully projected behind thestriker 17. Hence, the bolt spring 10 which is mounted on the latch bolt5 and arranged to reciprocate'therewith, exerts a clockwise torque orthe lever 13 at the spring seat 15 which in turn causes the flange 14 ofthe upper part of the lever 13 to hold the rollback 7 aga nst theselvage plate 2 as at 20. The bolt spring at the same time forces thelatch bolt outwardly toward the right and the rollback abutment 6engages the fiange 14 of the lever as at 21 to alsohold the rollback 7against the selvage plate 2. In Figs. 4 and 5 the latch bolt 5 is shownonly partially projected. In such a position the rollback abutment 6 isspaced from the flange 14 of the pivoted lever 13 and the rollback 7 andhence does not maintain the rollback against the selvage plate 2. Hence,insofar as the rollback abutment 6 is concerned the rollback 7 would befree to rotate between the rollback abutment 6 and the selvage plate 2and consequently permit the handle 9 to sag from the horizontal. In thisposition of the latch bolt the sagging of the handle 9 is preventedbecause the clockwise torque exerted by the spring 10 upon the lever 13at the seat 15 oausesthe flange 14 of the lever 13 toyieldably engagetherollback 7 and hold it against the selvage plate 2 as at 22. At thethat there is here produced a latch construction in which the retractingmeans is at all times held in a predetermined position by a single meanswhich also serves to yieldably project the latch bolt into latchingengagement with the striker.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a single clip whichserves three purposes, namely, to guide the latch bolt, to serve as astop which limits the retraction of the latch bolt, and. to serve as aguide for the rollback dog. This construction is nicely illustrated inFig. 6 and does away with the need for the usual punched-in bolt stopand the commonly used spring clip guide for the bolt. As shown in Figs.7 and 8 the latch frame 1 is provided with openings 31. The openings 31are arranged to receive the substantially U-shaped clip 32 which ispassed over the latch bolt 5 and then through the openings 31 where theends 33 are bent over as shown. The latch bolt 5 is provided with therecesses 34 having the shoulders 35. Hence, when the latch is retractedas by the ordinary remote control or by the outside door handle theshoulder 35 abuts against the clip 32 to limit the retraction of thebolt.

The clip 32 is provided with the upstanding lugs or wings 36 which serveas guides for the dog 37. The dog 37 is arranged to be slid downwardlyto abut the rear of the lever 13 as at 38 to positively dog the rollback7.

It is customary in look construction to have one of the ends of the boltspring stationary. Hence, to take a specific example, when the bolt isprojected the spring is exerting approximately 28 lbs. pressure upon thebolt, whereas when the bolt is retracted the spring is exerting in theneighborhood of 32 lbs. pressure, hence making a difference of 4 lbs.pressure between the retracted position and the projected position ofthe bolt. It is a further object of this invention to substantiallydecrease this difference and this has been achieved by mounting the boltspring upon the bolt and providing an inclined seat 15 along which theend of the spring 16 can slide after the latch bolt is retracted. Hence,as the latch bolts is retracted the upper portion of 'the spring moveswith the bolt and at the same time the spring end 16 moves downwardlyand to the left thereby preventing to a certain extent any increasedtension on the spring. It is found that by so mounting the latch boltspring that the diflerence in pressure exerted by the spring when thebolt is projected and when it is retracted is reduced to substantiallyone pound.

In the modified form of the latch the latch frame 40 has slidablymountedthereupon the bolt 41. The bolt 41 is guided by means of anopening 42 in the latch frame flange 43 and by means of the headed stud44 which projects through an opening 45 in the bolt 41 and is riveted tothe latch frame 40 as at 46. The bolt is arranged to be retracted by therollback 47. The latch frame 40 has pivotally mounted thereon as at 48the lever 49 one end of which carriesthe bolt spring 50 and the otherend of which is arranged to abut the rollback as at 51. In this case thefree end 52 of the spring 50 abuts the bolt as at 53. The torque exertedby the bolt spring 50 not only projects the bolt 41 but also exerts aclockwise torque upon the lever 49 which engages the rollback at 51 tohold it against the flange 43 and consequently maintains the out sidedoor handle in the proper horizontalposition even though the bolt 41 maynot be fully projected.

What I claim is:

1. Latch construction for an automotive vehicle comprising incombination a latch frame, a bolt movably mounted thereupon, retractingmeans for the said bolt, and a single means supported solely by the saidbolt for maintaining the retracting means in a predetermined positionindependently of the extent of the projection of the saidbolt and forprojecting the said bolt.

2. Latch construction for an automotive vehicle comprising incombination a latch frame, a bolt movably mounted thereupon, retractingmeans for the said bolt, and means for maintaining the retracting meansin a predetermined position independently of the extent of theprojection of the said bolt and for projecting said bolt said meansincluding a spring mounted on and adapted to reciprocate with the saidbolt.

3. Latch construction for an automotive vehicle comprising incombination a latch frame, a bolt movably mounted thereupon, retractingmeans for the said bolt, and means including a spring carried by thebolt and a lever for maintaining the retracting means in a predeterminedposition independently of the extent of projection of the said bolt andfor projecting the said bolt.

4. Latch construction for an automotive vehicle comprising incombination a latch frame, a bolt member movably mounted thereupon,retracting means for the said bolt member, a movable member mounted onthe said latch frame and resilient means carried by one of said members,the said resilient means arranged to engage both the bolt member toproject the same and the movable member mounted on the latch frame tohold the. said retracting means in a predetermined positionindependently of the extent of projection of the said bolt member.

5. Latch construction for an automotive vehicle comprising incombinationa latch frame, a bolt member movably mounted thereupon,retracting means for the said bolt member and a movable member mountedon the said latch frame, a spring carried by one of said members, thesaid spring being thereupon, retracting means for the said bolt member,a pivoted lever member carried by the latch frame and a spring carriedby one of said members, the said spring being arranged to engage thebolt member to project the same and the pivoted lever to hold the saidretracting means in a predetermined position independently of the extentof projection of the said bolt member.

7. Latch construction for an automotive vehicle comprising incombination a support member, a bolt movably mounted thereupon,retracting means including a rollback for the said bolt, resilient meanscarried by the said bolt, pivot means carried by. the support member,the said resilient means being arranged to engage the pivoted means toproject the latch bolt and to maintain the rollback against the supportmember independently of the extent of projection of the said boltwhereby the retracting means is maintained in a predetermined position.

8. Latch construction for an automotive vehicle comprising incombination a support member having a bolt movably mounted thereupon,retracting means including a rollback for'the said bolt, a springcarried by the said bolt, a pivoted lever carried by the support member,the said spring being arranged to engage the pivotedlever to project thelatch bolt and to maintain the rollback against the support memberindependently of the extent of projection of the said bolt whereby thesame and to serve as a stop forlimiting the retraction of the said bolt.

11. Latch construction'for an automotive vehicle comprising incombination a latch frame having an opening therein, a bolt slidablymounted on the frame, retracting means for the said bolt, a dog for the,said retracting means, and a U-shaped clip having upstanding flanges,the said clip arranged to be passed over the said bolt and through theopening in the latch frame with the ends turned voutwardly to secure thesaid clip to the latch frame and to serve as a guideand a stop for thesaid bolt, the upstanding flanges arranged to serve as a guide for thesaid dog.

12. Latch construction for an automotive vehicle comprising incombination a latch frame, a bolt slidably mounted thereupon, andresilient means for projecting the said bolt, the entire resilient meansmoving with the said bolt whereby the tension of the said bolt ismaintained substantially uniform when the bolt is in either projected orretracted position.

13. Latch construction for an automotive vehicle comprising incombination a latch frame, a bolt slidably mounted thereupon, a springsecured to the said bolt and having a projecting end, a seat for theprojecting end of the said bolt, the said seat being angularlydisposedwhereby the bolt spring and the free end of the spring move generally inthe direction of the said bolt as it is re tracted or projected tomaintain the tension of the spring substantially uniform.

14. Latch construction adapted for an automotive vehicle comprising incombination a latch frame, 'a bolt movably mounted thereupon, retractingmeansfor the said bolt,

a spring for projecting said bolt, and a signature. I JOHN B. FLYNN.

retracting means is maintained in a prede- I termined position.

9. Latch constructlon for an automotive veh1cle comprising 1ncomblnation a latch frame, a bolt slidably mounted thereupon, re-

tracting means for the said bolt and a dog for the saidretracting-means, anda single means serving as a guide for the said boltand dog and a stop to limit the retraction of the said bolt.

10. Latch construction for an automotive vehicle comprising incombination a latch frame, a bolt slidably mounted thereupon, retractingmeans for the said bolt, a dog for dogging the said retracting means anda clip secured to the said latch frame and slidably engaging the saidbolt and dog to guide the

